Jump to content

LA84

Premium Members
  • Posts

    2,435
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

Posts posted by LA84

  1. I really want to see Toronto win this - I am on record as saying they got screwed. But I have questions.

    I don't see how the Pan Am plan would help Toronto in winning a future SOG. It's been several years since I have been in the Toronto area, but I do recall how spread out The Golden Horseshoe was. That and how traffic on I think it is the 401 can get?

    Can't this be centralized more? What happened to the island the 2008 games were supposed to be held on?

  2. To be perfectly honest..I'm not sure why there should be a minimum age for the gymnasts.There isn't for most of the other Olympic disciplines.

    I understand about past abuses involving puberty-suppressing drugs etc.but surely the younger gynmasts could be tested for these before being allowed to take part!

    Nadia said the same thing and I guess I agree with her assessment.

    But rules are rules.

    Mark my words, it will come out 20 years from now they were under aged, much like the East German and Russian women swimmers admitted they were doped in 1976.

  3. If I go, I think I am driving up. It's only 15 hours from San Francisco. Stop in Portland and then continue.

    Otherwise fly to Seattle and rent a car. I am not even going to think about flying into Vancouver - that would be a nightmare.

    Although I imagine customs will be a nightmare all around. :blink:

    Accommodations - my supposed friend at the Four Seasons has not gotten back to me :angry:

  4. Yea true its the good and bad thing of getting the ticketing done so early.

    Hopefully you find a way to get to Vancouver, it will probably be a highly attended games for GBers.

    It would be great - I would love to meet you and Kendegra and even Mr. X - if he can get out of Jr. High home room to do so. ;) (j/k)

    Check your PM.

    Like Puppy, my tentative ticket order hovers around $2500 U.S. I am not going to Whistler if I go. I would like to but sitting on a bus on a mountain roadway for 2 hours without a ciggy and a beverage is not my idea of a good time. :unsure:

  5. I thought you had decided to come already LA

    I have pretty much - I am only hesitating because that year is also my parents 50th wedding anniversay and my sister and I promised to take them to Hawaii or go on an Alaskan Cruise.

    Plus, if I get the tickets now I will get charged this December right when Christmas and property taxes are due.

  6. I will say this though - my perception of the average Canadian has altered. My G-d you guys bitch and moan about everything!

    Try living next door to them!

    j/k btw ;)

    You know, it's not bad. When I first read it I was like, o.k., how unoriginal. But now I am thinking it's got potential. B)

    Altho, unfortunately, that damn national anthem is now stuck in my head.

  7. but it doesn't even really matter. few people care. so china won the most golds at home. good for them, no one's trying to take that away from them (apart, perhaps in gymnastics). every country deserves a moment like that, and even americans realize that. we don't think of china as some big, bad scary threat that we need to prove our superiority to every chance we get. i mean, without them where would we get all our poorly made electronics & plastic goods from?

    but let's see how they do though next time without all these variables.

    ^^^

    Another of the best quotes of the games.

    Thank you - you have been a wonderful audience but I am now bored with this topic.

  8. lol actually, we didn't see that on CBC....i think it was on NBC or maybe TVB that i saw that, must've been horrifying.

    It had to be on CBC - it was right when they raised him to the top - they held him for a second and then there was a slight drop and he kinda freaked a little.

    I guess I find this whole "fakery" argument amusing for the same reason I really haven't cared for the opening ceremonies since '88 and Lillehammer which from that point back, there was no electronic wizadry, and everything was performed by people with no computer aid. Much more real and spirited IMHO

  9. In addition, for the HUGE stadia -- and if they have sound directors who know their job, yes, they mix the live orchestral music WITH previously recorded tracks so the 'live' audience gets a good balance of the music in structures which are NOT built for symphonic music. What's the point of having 80,000 people if you're not going to present as professional a show (even with a few accepted industry 'tricks') as you can?

    What I wonder about are the orchestras in the outdoor Winter Ceremonies? Don't the lips and fingers of the musicians freeze in that night winter air? So, which is why things as 'prerecorded music' comes into play.

    A good question. I recall, in my youth, having to play out in the cold in November - not nearly as bad as during a February Olympics. Never as crisp, my spit valve would gurgle and I couldn't get it all out, the woodwinds had a horrible time with their reeds, the trombonist, trumpet players and French Horn musicians (Well - the French Horns are high strung in the first place ;) ) were having lip problems, etc.

  10. I just find it utterly shocking.

    Shocking that people are shocked by such things.

    Olympic Ceremonies are seen worldwide and you only get one shot at them. So I totally understand the need to get it right, or at least present it right. Mistakes happen. The Gov General of Australia almost mispronounced Sydney and then slammed his microphones together. The final torch bearer in Cortina 1956 tripped on a TV cable and fell down. There was a streaker at the closing of the Montreal Games. And then we have the Seoul doves. You don't want orchestras performing off key, singers forgetting the words, or other problems that can be easily controlled when that many people are paying attention.

    I would be surprised if ANY orchestra from Los Angeles forward actually were playing. That ceremony always looked sketchy to me as I used to be in an orchestra.

    Continuing the tradition of gaffes - that poor Govoner General in 1988 messing up, Reagan messing up, the BIG messup in '56 with how much tnt they put in Ron Clarke's torch. Stuff happens in ceremonies. Heck in Bejing did you notice how the cable dropped and Li Ning kinda freaked right before he started his run?

    Live is rarely picture perfect. So stuff happens to enhance them.

  11. Americans just can't hack it that they lost the olympics. They can't bear the thought that a bigger and better communist equivalent to the USSR has come to spoil their arrogant party. Better get used to it, China's not going anywhere!

    Actually, if you would look back before posting, you would see that we in the US are not the ones trying to "adjust" the medal totals. They are what they are. We have always counted them one way - others another. Also we are not the ones whining about it - but if it makes you feel better, go ahead. :P

  12. I think the answer lies in a mathematical calculation based on the following:

    100 for Gold

    50 for Silver

    40 for Bronze

    I think it reflects the true order of team performance and gives a clearer idea of the difference between teams. The real winner using this method would be France. This gives a much clearer representation of French success than the actual medal table suggests.

    Heres what the new table would look like using this forumla.

    1st - China 7270 points (same position)

    2nd - USA 6940 points (same position)

    3rd - Russia 4470 points (same position)

    4th - GBR 3150 points (same position)

    5th - Australia 2830 points (up 1 place)

    6th - Germany 2700 points (down 1 place)

    7th - France 2180 points (up 3 places)

    8th - Korea 2120 points (down 1 place)

    9th - Italy 1700 points (same position)

    10th - Japan 1600 points (down 2 places)

    Yeah, I'm a geek and proud of it :D

    Oh Jesus Christ - now you just look pathetic.

    Here - here's another way to access the votes. Do a mathematical calculation on this:

    Jamaica Is The Biggest Medal Winner In Bejing.

    Oh dear - Britain placed after Australia - again.

    And the US over China . . . -_-

    You Brits are so cute sometimes. ;)

    Been there; done that. People just see it as it is; as it is flashed on the sports channels:

    Cumulatively, the US came out ahead.

    In Golds, China got the most.

    Make of it what you will...but we've moved on to another day...

    "And that's the way it is, Thursday, August 28th, 2008. This is Walter Cronkhite, CBS News. Goodnight."

  13. Baron and LA84, the fact that this is the best response you could both come up with in response to the points that savas and myself made really shows how weak your assertions are. It seems you have both run out of negative things to say about Greece (and positive things to say about NPC - National Phelps Channel) that this is the only response you have left. You can turn around and say "whatever" and that you are "tired of this topic" (how convenient that you get "tired" of it when you run out of negative points to spew and how mature of you as well) but the facts remain the facts and you cannot refute them.

    Wait a minute - perhaps you need to get your facts correct. NOWHERE did I critisize Greece. In fact, I am about the only person that agreed with Savas about the current state of the Olympic facilities. And after the shameful display of some on here after 2004, I make it a practice to rarely, if ever, comment on anything to do with that country as individuals like you tend to turn things into a personal crusade and insult anyone who don't agree with you.

    So please try and take steps to make yourself look less foolish in the future.

  14. Umm, how do you know that I don't live in America? I never said where I lived. Isn't it a bit presumptuous of you to make that assumption? And using the Katerina Thanou example is pretty lame...that's old news, and it seems to be intended to rub salt into old wounds. It has no place in this conversation.

    I follow media closely and frequent many TV and media industry message boards and I can tell you, with certainty, that NBC's coverage faced much criticism this year, probably even more so than in past years.

    CBC, the BBC, etc. focused on more than just their medal hopefuls. Same in Greece. The fact that NBC did not carry, for instance, the men's 100m, is absurd no matter how much you slice it.

    The fact that you would have been pissed off if they cut away from a beach volleyball matchup for one of the most marquee events in the Olympics is really quite telling. NBC could have shown it on its cable channels, but an event like the 100m would most certainly garner top billing on any other network anywhere in the world, regardless of whether or not a country had a medal hopeful in the race.

    Even if you are a meda critic, I don't care. Nor do I care what you think we should and should not have been watching. I'm sure, however, if there had been a full piece about how Thaneau was trying to get back into these games and failed you would have been extolling their virtues.

    Don't like it - tune in somewhere else. These were about the best televised games by NBC in the US since Jim McKary last did it in '84 IMHO.

  15. Of course they have every right to feature or over-feature whomever they want. However, after a certain point, it gets in the way of what they originally paid to do, which is to cover the Olympic Games. In many other countries, coverage of the Olympics doesn't rest merely with what the home country is doing, but focuses on events that feature other countries competing as well. NBC did not even show the men's 100 meter dash, they were too busy showing beach volleyball (with Team USA, of course). I mean, that's just absurd. And I am not alone in my disapproval of NBC's coverage of the game...their subpar coverage has not gone unnoticed by many.

    I know this will be a shock, but I am not interested, as an example in that Greek woman who staged a motorcycle wreck in 2004 that your fellow countryman started a thread for (Thaneau is her name, right?) NBC reports on what it's core audience, North America is interested in. NBC does market research to see what the American audience is interested in and quite frankly, I would have been pissed if they had cut away from Misty and Keri. It wasn't live anyhow and we saw the 100m shortly after so whatever.

    Geez I get annoyed with people saying what NBC should and should not be showing when they don't even live here! <_<

    CBC focused on their medal hopefuls - BBC was almost orgasmic in covering theirs. That is just the way it is.

  16. When you think about it, I no longer doubt what Savas said. I recall during the last minute preparations of Athens when questions arose if facilities would be completed, that even the Greeks on here admitted that they aren't the fastest when it comes to preparing for grand projects. So it doesn't surprise me four years later that some facilities may just now be in the process of being converted. If the Greeks are comfortable with that then what does it really matter?

×
×
  • Create New...